The CCA takes the show on the road

At the Dallas Bar Association's Belo Mansion, 362 Dallas Independent School District high school students sat quietly and listened on Sept. 11 as seven judges of the Court of Criminal Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Lizcano v. State. The event was part of Appealing to the Public, a program sponsored by the Dallas Bar Foundation, DISD, the CCA and Amachi Texas, a joint initiative between the Office of Gov. Rick Perry, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the OneStar Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas. The program’s goal is to educate the public and students about the courts. Although district courts have conducted trials at individual high schools through the program since 2006, the CCA hearing was the first before such a large gathering of students and the first conducted by a court that hears cases from all around the state. Criminal defense lawyers and solos John Tatum of Richardson and Brook Busbee of Dallas represented defendant Juan Lizcano, while Dallas Assistant District Attorney Christi Dean represented the state.
-- Miriam Rozen